1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an information processing apparatus and method and a program, and more particularly to an information processing apparatus and method and a program wherein a user can select a recorded content from among a plurality of recorded contents.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, a recording and reproduction apparatus such as a hard disk video recorder which can record and reproduce a broadcasting program, particularly an image signal and a sound signal of a broadcasting program, has been and is being popularized significantly. Also a recording and reproduction apparatus which can utilize program information of a broadcasting program such as, for example, EPG (Electronic Program Guide) information to execute various processes has been proposed and placed on the market. A recording and reproduction apparatus of the type just mentioned is disclosed, for example, in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. Hei 9-9193, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2001-313878 or Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2001-8122.
The permissible recording amount of such recording and reproduction apparatus as described above has exhibited a remarkable increase in recent years. Consequently, a great number of broadcasting programs can be recorded in a recording and reproduction apparatus of the type described. This gives rise to a problem that, if such a great number of recorded broadcasting programs are not managed appropriately, then it becomes difficult for the user to find out a recorded broadcasting program which the user wants to reproduce. It is to be noted that a recorded broadcasting program is hereinafter referred to simply as recorded program.
Thus, the inventor of the present invention made an invention of an apparatus for managing the recorded substance of a recording and reproduction apparatus making use of a past program table and filed an application for patent in Japan as Japanese Patent Application No. 2004-138594. The past program table is a table which is produced making use of program information of broadcasting programs broadcast in the past and in which program listings representative of broadcasting programs broadcast in the past are indicated in the form of a table. In Japanese Patent Application No. 2004-138594, the program listings indicate recorded programs. It is to be noted that a particular example of the past program table is hereinafter described with reference to FIG. 5.
With the apparatus disclosed in Japanese Patent Application No. 2004-138594, the user can perform a selection operation of a recorded program to be reproduced making use of such a past program table as described above.